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honour of the country at the time?—Well, perhaps, four hospitals, ten small schools, and £200 or £300 a year for a protector of aborigines. 177. But no more land? —I am speaking of the promises, not of the covenants of the deed, which were for more land. 178. I cannot quite understand what you think they were entitled to in the shape of land ; whether the merest vague promises were made, or whether they were led to understand anything? — The Committee must understand that that was the promise of the Governor. I should hardly like to have it recorded that I think the Governor's promises were vague, and would always have remained vague, and would never have been fulfilled ; but I think it not improbable. 179. But was not the whole Ngaitahu transaction closed through you, and were you not the executive officer ?—I certainly distributed the last instalments of the payment for the Ngaitahu Block and returned the deed to the Government. 180. And made the last payment, I suppose ?—I know of none after. 181. Were any of the promises, you made in regard to land unsatisfied? —Do you mean distinct from those made by the Government in the deed? 182. No ; simply what you yourself made ?—I do not think so. 183. That all the promises you made were satisfied ?—Yes ; all that I was in a position to make. I was not in a position to make any on my own behalf. 184. Your instructions were to set aside reserves, and even have them measured off?—All that was done under my supervision. The only things not done were the institution of hospitals and schools, attending to the Natives' general welfare, and the conveyance of additional land as covenanted in the Ngaitahu deed. 185. Hon. the Chairman.] Allow me to call your attention to this extract from your evidence given before the Native Land Court: " I was instructed verbally by Lieut.-Governor Eyre to make certain promises to the Natives of what the Government intended to do for them in addition to paying for the land. I made this representation, and found it had great weight in inducing the Natives to come under the deed, but these promises have not yet been fulfilled. W Tas also instructed in writing to mark out reserves around and including pas, residences, or cultivations to the extent that may be necessary for the resident Natives, but to inform them that the Crown will hereafter mark out for them such additional reserves as maybe considered necessary for their future wants. I took refuge under this promise with the Natives." That is on page 3of Mr. Mackay's report. Though late, is not the system of Native schools and the benefit derived from European schools a partial fulfilment of the promises made that they should have schools and also the use of hospitals —does not that apply ?—I look upon the use of those institutions now as being that wdiich we should never have thought of withholding from them. I must remind you that a whole generation passed by —or, at any rate, a lapse of sixteen years occurred—without anything being done in that respect, and the result has been that many a Native of strong power of intellect and great talents has run to waste altogether. Every one of them should have been provided with the means of civilisation which the Government undertook to provide. It has been a matter of serious regret to me that many of my Maori friends, some of them able men, should not have had the benefit of education. 186. Hon. Mr. Waterhouse^ You spoke of Mr. Kemp being sent down to buy a block of twenty million acres: was it not the case that he was sent down, not to buy that block, the title of the Natives to which the Government did not recognise, seeing that the land had never been traversed and much of it had not even been seen by the Natives—was it not the case that he was instructed simply to buy the Native claims within that block?—That, I have urged, was the theory of the Native land purchase in the Middle Island at that time, and the title of the Commissioner—for instance, my title—was not land-purchaser, but Commissioner for Extinguishing Native Claims. Practically, however, the Government recognised the Native title as extending over the whole block. I know this, because on one occasion when a Native sent in a claim to the Government for land at the back, between Canterbury and West] and 187. In what year? —I do not remember that, but I have documents, no doubt, which would show. It would be at about the time that some great statesman at Home sent out a despatch to the Governor to the effect that the Natives really had no right to all their land, and that there must be a vast quantity of waste land over which the Native title did not extend. At any rate, there was such a statement, and he sent it out here. It led to that idea as to the limited extent of the Native title. I minuted the Native's application that the land had not been occupied for many years, and that it probably came under that category. The reply of the Government was not in favour of that theory, and practically the claim of the Natives to every acre of land was recognised. 188. Was it not owing to Kemp failing to carry out the intentions of the Government that you were sent down there to clear up points in doubt, and to solve all difficulties in connection with that provision in the sale of the kind?—That was the impression conveyed to me by the LieutenantGovernor when he sent for me on the subject. 189. You state that sufficient land had not been reserved to the Natives at the time you negotiated the conclusion of the purchase, but that the matter was investigated in the Native Land Court, and fresh reserves made—on a liberal scale, I think I heard you say ?—I am not quite sure. In the Canterbury part of the Ngaitahu Block it was so, but not quite so in the Otago portion. You see that, although both Canterbury and Otago belonged to the same Native tribe, the European tribes were different. 190. Then, did you regard the decision of the Native Land Court in 1868 as clearing up the undefined promises in respect of reserves ?—lt w ras looked upon by the Court in that way; the Natives seemed satisfied, and there was no opposition offered on the part of the provincial authorities in Canterbury.